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October 22, 2007

New Morning

It used to be that you would watch them with one hand covering your eyes, fully expecting the worst.

This was not some irrational fear or paranoia being displayed. This was real.

Watch them long enough and eventually, you would see it all: a baserunner would trip rounding third base; a routine grounder would elude the first baseman; a manager would be frozen by inaction. ... Then, without warning, something changed in October, 2004. ...

Since then, it has not been the same for the Red Sox. It doesn't mean that they can't lose; it just means that they're no longer destined to do so. ...

Nothing is as it used to be. Before, no lead was safe. Now, no deficit is insurmountable.

Gone forever are the Red Sox of yesterday. In Boston, during the baseball season, there is now only an endless succession of tomorrows.

Once seen as a tortured and most tragic franchise ... the 2004 Red Sox permanently altered the fate and direction of the franchise[. L]et the record show that these Sox were buoyed by a youth that seems entirely unencumbered by the weight of Red Sox pasts. ...

They were also spectacular failures, the team that always missed by thismuch. The Sox of old made critical blunders and paid for them dearly, and were reminded, year after year after year, that they had made unforgettable, unforgivable mistakes. ...

Why should Pedroia care at all about 2003? Why should Matsuzaka care about 1948? Why should Ellsbury care about '75 or Okajima about '86, when, to them, the Sox are a team of here and now? ...

Children, after all, are products of the environment they are raised in. Teach them to win, they will win. Teach them fear, self-doubt and trepidation, and they will learn those things, too.

Unfortunately I think we'll have to wait until the idiot sportswriters who worked the 70s actually keel over and die

Kevin Mortons Ghost:

Even if the Sox win the Series this year, if next season they blow a playoff spot in September or a lead in a post-season series, the headlines will read "Red Sox back to their old ways." Maybe after some really prolonged period of excellence its goes away, but otherwise, it's just too easy for lazy sportswriters to trot this stuff out.

Mourning Woodward Jr:

For any remaining trace of a Choker label that remains stuck to the Sox, a lot of it comes from us. There was a lot of panic around these parts in September, with a lot of SOSHers dreading a repeat of 1978. Ending the championship drought three years ago did tons for our collective mental health, but there were enough disasters to make a lot of us very nervous at reminders of past collapses. We'll shed the choker tag for once and for all when we stop expecting the worst when we're actually the frontrunners.

LahoudOrBillyC:

The more interesting question has always been about how Red Sox fans view themselves. The "choker" label was worn by Red Sox fans mostly because they chose to wear it. The day the Red Sox fans approach an upcoming Yankee series based solely on the quality of the teams is the day it is over. I sense we are not there yet.

You still hear the "it'll be 86 years until the next one" -- the day after the Sox won in 2004, the New York Daily News back page said "See You In 2090". (Note: there have not been 86-year gaps between Red Sox championships. MLB has not been around for 516+ years.)

Beating the Rockies would show the media and ignorant fans that 2004 was not a fluke. ... But really, who gives a shit? I don't care what ESPN or Joe Buck or Michael Kay thinks about me or my team. I'm more interested in how Red Sox fans see themselves.

I look forward to the day when the young Sox fans who fell in love with the team in 2004 -- who know their team only as never-say-die comeback kings -- gain a sizable voice in the fan base, and old farts who believed the franchise was cursed and trembled at the mere mention of the Yankees are deemed even more irrelevant.

There were a couple of good stories at boston.com today about the 2004 team. Derek Lowe expressed regret that the team did not get to stay together after 2004 here and also another nostalgia story here

It gets better guys. Now Fux (not a typo might I clarify) Sports and Ken Rosenthal just can't seem to finally be able to praise the Sox for once. Now they have to try and say another New England franchise is "cheating" or using favoritism. This is what I cannot fucking stand about the rest of the MLB, sports writers, and the fandom. For God's sake give us some fucking credit! We won, we're a good team, and we don't cheat! Fuck you Rosenthal and fuck anyone who thinks we buy our way to World Series or "cheat" like the Patriots DID.

Well, after a day spent almost entirely on the Red Sox (and watching Life of Brian again... thanks for reminding me), a few comments and observations:

- I would like Keith Foulke to throw out the first pitch in one of the games at Fenway. He left in a pretty bad atmosphere, and he deserves a standing ovation.- Foxsports really hate the Sox. Cases in point: http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/7364390I mean, come on, Rosenthal. You say yourself that you don't think Mitchell is biased, but that it will be perceived like that. Of course it will be perceived like that- have you read your own article? That's the way twisted perception is created.http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/7361486Mark Kriegel, whoever that is, with a supposedly positive, but hate-filled article on the Sox' win.I will say that it tickled me a little when Dayn Perry (who isn't so bad) wrote, as reason #1 for why the Sox are gonna win: They are the better team.- What do they do with Dane Cook's annoyingness if the Series goes into November? Huh? 'There's only 1/30th of November'?- Strange moment: can you guess what song they put on after the last out of game 7, in the very Spider-oriented bar I watched the game in? Tessie. Weird shit.- Post game interviews suck. I don't see any reason to watch those again. Obvious questions, obvious answers, the players look like they just want to be out of there... although Francona is entertaining.- 'Team of destiny' my ass- I voted for Sox in 4.